[ J 42 ] 



THE FLAT-FISH. 



THE present tribe comprehends those fish thai 

 are usually denominated Flat-fish; as the Plaise, 

 Flounder, Sole, &c. These are generally confined 

 to the muddy or sandy banks of the sea, where they 

 have the power of burying themselves, as far as 

 the head, to escape the devastations of the more 

 rapacious tribes. They seldom rise far from the 

 bottom, since, from the want of an air-bladder to 

 buoy them up, which most of the other fishes pos- 

 sess, they are compelled to use their pectoral fins 

 for this purpose, in somewhat the same manner as 

 birds use their wings to rise in the air; and this is 

 not done without considerable exertion : here, there- 

 fore, they generally swim with their bodies in an 

 oblique position,* and feed on such aquatic worms, 

 &c. as come in their way. 



Many of them, as the Holibut, Turbot, and some 

 others, grow to a great size. The eyes of the whole 

 tribe are situated on one side of the head. It is a 

 curious circumstance that, while the under parts of 

 their body are of a brilliant white, the upper parts 

 are so coloured and speckled as, when they are half 

 immersed in the sand or mud, to render them im- 

 perceptible. Of this resemblance they are so con- 

 scious that, whenever they find themselves in dan- 

 ger, they sink into the mud, and continue perfectly 

 motionless. This is a circumstance so well known 

 to fishermen, that within their palings on the strand 



